The “Start” company was founded in 1937 by Stefan Dobrowolski. Initially, it dealt with repairing bicycles and producing bicycle parts (the owner was a cyclist and an active member of the Warsaw Cyclists’ Society), and its headquarters were located at ul. Żelazna 58A. The dynamic development of the company was stopped by the outbreak of the war.

Stefan Dobrowolski fought in the September Campaign of 1939 and was captured after the fall of the Modlin Fortress. However, he managed to escape and get to Warsaw, where he resumed the company’s operations.

During the occupation, the company was not only a support for the Dobrowolski family (Stefan had five brothers), but also a base for underground activities. All brothers, as well as many employees, belonged to the Home Army. In addition to official production (at that time, rickshaws, carbide lamps and bicycle and car pumps were manufactured), parts for “Sten” submachine guns for the Home Army were also produced, as well as equipment for the production of weapons for other underground armories. The company’s pre-war contractors of Jewish origin also found shelter on the company’s premises. During the Warsaw Uprising, the company’s buildings at ul. Żelazna 58A were completely destroyed.

Stefan Dobrowolski fought in the Warsaw Uprising – initially in Praga, then he crossed the Vistula and fought in Sadyba in the ranks of the “Oaza” battalion. His family luckily managed to survive the Wola Massacre, and he himself escaped from German captivity. Shortly after the end of hostilities, he returned to Warsaw and started rebuilding the plant. The post-war years were a period of rapid development, as evidenced by diplomas of appreciation for goods exhibited at the Poznań Exhibition. At that time, the company produced a wide range of bicycle parts, bicycle and car pumps, as well as toys. Employment has reached 70 employees.

In 1964, the plant was moved to a newly built small crafts pavilion at 56A Jana Kazimierza Street, where it was located until 2008. In 1979, his son, engineer Jerzy Dobrowolski, joined the company with Stefan, bringing to the company, apart from enthusiasm and energy, knowledge and experience of many years of work in managerial positions in the state industry (PZL Nowotko, WZM). The machinery was modernized, the product range was expanded to include moped parts, and a foot pump was developed and put into production. Of course, all this was within the framework of the then possibilities of operating in the conditions of the “socialist economy”.

In 1990, Jerzy’s son, Rafał Dobrowolski, a graduate of the Warsaw University of Technology, started working in the company. This coincided with a sharp change in economic conditions and a period of economic collapse in the country. Balcerowicz’s reforms, hyperinflation and sudden opening to the import of goods from abroad (with an unfavorable system of taxation of domestic production promoting imported goods), and additionally spontaneous bazaar imports from the countries of the collapsed Soviet Union, created (despite the apparent unlocking of opportunities for private initiative) a situation that could be in hindsight, it can be assessed as hopeless from the manufacturer’s point of view.

Nevertheless, carried by a wave of enthusiasm regarding regained economic freedom and, as it seemed, unlimited development opportunities, we undertook a huge modernization effort, using all the company’s and family’s resources for this purpose. It concerned both the design of products, their production technology and the machinery. A completely new model of a foot pump was developed, with a different aesthetic form and (what is equally important) based on different technological assumptions. Surviving the early 1990s, modernizing the plant and adapting to new market conditions was possible thanks to the material reserves accumulated in 1989 and consistent operation in subsequent years.

The 1990s were a period of intensive development of the company. At that time, both the turnover, the range of goods sold and the production base increased. The products manufactured so far were completely modernized: a foot pump and a hand pump, and completely new ones were introduced into production: a trapezoidal lift (1998), a START bicycle carrier (2001), and its improved version HOMAR (2005). The pressing plant was modernized by introducing 6 eccentric and 5 hydraulic presses and a guillotine. An automatic lathe department, a powder paint shop, an injection molding plant and many other special production and assembly stations were established. Increased tooling needs (repair and maintenance of an increasing number of cutting dies, stamping dies and injection molds as well as the demand for new ones) prompted the creation of our own tool shop in 1994, which has since been intensively developed as a separate department. Thanks to increasingly better equipment and experience, in addition to handling its own production and new launches, since the early 2000s, the Tool Shop has also been providing external services in the field of construction and regeneration of tools and precision machining. This gave the company a new development impulse, prompting it to invest more and more boldly in this branch of activity.

During this period, the company changed its character and transformed from a craftsman’s workshop employing a few employees into a small production company employing up to 20 people. Its premises base was systematically expanded through the purchase and lease of neighboring craft pavilions as well as the development and development of all available land. In this way, from the initial area of ​​150 m2 in 2004, we reached almost 1,000 m2, which exhausted the development opportunities in this location. Being aware of these limitations and taking into account the threats resulting from the uncertain status of our property, located on land leased from the commune, in 2005 we purchased an industrial facility in Ożarów Mazowiecki. Over the next three years, renovation and adaptation works continued, as well as the arduous fulfillment of formal conditions related to obtaining “consent to change the use of the facility”, which turned out to be the most difficult and time-consuming. In 2008, the company moved to a new headquarters in Ożarów Mazowiecki, on the premises of the former Cable Factory, within the SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE “Europark Wisłosan”. It is a modern, spacious industrial facility with a total area of ​​approx. 2,700 m2, equipped with modern ventilation, air-conditioning, heating and cooling installations, providing opportunities for further development of the company.

Moving the business to a new location allowed for changes in the organization of work in many important points, e.g. internal logistics and storage of materials, semi-finished products and finished products were radically improved thanks to the possibility of using a forklift and pallet containers. The new premises also allowed for a more rational arrangement of machine tools and the creation of appropriate working conditions. It was particularly important to allocate an air-conditioned space (the so-called aquarium) for the EDM department, which has a beneficial effect on the accuracy of the work performed and the reliability of the machines.

It was also possible to separate and expand the construction and technology department with a gradually increasing staff.

In addition, it became possible to put into operation new machine tools and production machines:

– year 2008 – MAS 1270V milling center, LEN63 eccentric press, Goodway turning center, SPD40 surface grinder, graphite milling machine
– year 2009 – 55T injection molding machine,
– year 2010 – HAAS VM2 milling center, 100T injection molding machine
– year 2011 – Sodick AD-3L sinking erosion machine, 300T injection molding machine
– year 2012 – Accutex SP-300 wire erosion machine, SMART turning center, assembly station with lifting device
– year 2013 – Agietron 4U sinking erosion machine
– year 2014 – TUG-56 CNC lathe, a separate air-conditioned measurement room equipped with an Ares CNC measuring machine
– year 2015 – AVIA FNE 40N CNC milling machine, Avia X-5 5-axis machining center, Mitsubishi MV2400S wire erosion machine

At that time, subsequent positions in the construction and technology department were equipped with computers with specialized CAD/CAM/CAE software – a total of 14 workstations, 4 Autodesk Inventor licenses, 2 Solid Edge licenses, 2 EdgeCam licenses, 3 NX licenses, 2 licenses . Esprit, 1 lic. ArcoCad

Along with the expansion of the machinery and turnover, employment is systematically increasing in 2015, reaching 35 people. Over time, the share of turnover obtained from service and tool activities increases, which becomes dominant in the company’s profile.

In 2014, the company applied to the RPO WM measure 1.5, seeking funding for a project called “increasing competitiveness through the purchase of modern machine tools”. The application was approved, but did not qualify for financing due to exhaustion of funds. The investments from 2014 and 2015 included in this application are therefore consistently implemented using only own funds. So far, we have not received public or EU aid for any of our investments!

The change in local conditions also allowed for the development of the production range:

– year 2008 – leader pump
– year 2010 – slalom ski racks
– year 2012 – homar 2 Alu bicycle rack
– year 2013 – homar trunk 3
– year 2014 – tRAPER foot pump
– year 2015 – leader pump 2

More products are in preparation…